The second day of trial in the case styled Bruton Stephens v. City of Dallas was not a good one for the plaintiff. Stephens endured well over an hour of cross examination by Assistant City Attorney Jennifer Huggard, during which she was able to inflict damage to his allegations and his credibility.

Huggard brought out a series of emails and other evidence to cast doubt on each of his claims. She was repeatedly able to make him look at best forgetful and at worst evasive as she questioned him about the evidence.

"I'm not sure what I recall; I don't know," he said in response to her contention that he accessed a manager's computer, as she tried to undermine his assertion that his supervisory duties had been stripped.

It was one of many times that Stephens avoided answering Huggard directly. Several times, the judge admonished him, "Please, just answer the question."

At another point, Huggard got Stephens to concede that his trial testimony about who typed a letter contradicted his statements in an earlier deposition. She also put his journal into evidence, in which he had written who typed the letter, but then scratched it out and changed it. Huggard suggested Stephens had made the change just before turning the journal over to city attorneys in response to a subpoena. The author of the letter -- either Stephens or another employee who signed it -- did not seem significant to the case. But in showing his changing testimony, Huggard may have succeeded in denting Stephens' credibility with the jurors. "You wouldn't lie in your own journal, would you?" she asked him.

Some of the city emails Huggard brought into evidence suggested Stephens was not singled out for menial duties, something he had complained about. An email suggested, for instance, that when he was assigned to sweep a parking lot, it was part of a rotation that included other employees in preparation for an upcoming environmental audit.

During re-direct examination, Stephens' attorney Corinna Chandler was able to repair some of the wounds her client had suffered on the stand. Her questioning allowed him to offer explanations for some of what had seemed like evasiveness earlier. But she could not erase all of the damage. The trial resumes tomorrow. Eventually, City Manager Mary Suhm is expected to have her own turn on the stand.